Image: @PadsFan25. Report submitted by reader Marco Bautista.
– No Way Jose defeated Kona Reeves
There was a big pop for Jose and he pumped up the crowd. Reeves got big heat as well. Jose danced throughout the match, eventually winning with his pop-up punch finisher.
Both of the faces got pops, but the heels got surprisingly little reaction. Evans was impressive with her moves and showed character.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Oney Lorcan
This was the match of the night. It was a physical back-and-forth match with a few close near falls. Ohno ended up winning with an elbow strike, and both wrestlers got good pops.
– DIY defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
Sabbatelli and Moss cut a good heel promo on the city before this started. All four showed off at the start and they had a good match from beginning to end. DIY won with their finisher.
– Drew McIntyre defeated Patrick Clark
McIntyre got a good reaction, while Clark didn’t really get much. This was another stiff match with chops and kicks. McIntyre won with a Claymore kick.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Sonya Deville to retain her title
The fans were very into Asuka. They had an MMA type of match with many submissions and kicks. It lasted seven minutes, with Asuka winning with a running kick.
Dillinger got one of the biggest pops of the night, with it maybe only being surpassed by the crowd singing Roode’s theme. It started with Dillinger and Roode doing their signature taunts. Roode tried to get heat by telling the crowd to shut up, but he ended up getting a pop for it.
This was a solid match. Dillinger and Itami hit their finishers and Itami pinned Almas.
Dillinger said after the match that as far as he knows this was his last night in NXT. He gave a farewell speech. The crowd chanted “US champ” at one point and he called out Kevin Owens. The whole roster that was there came out to give him a curtain call to end the show.
– Lacey Evans & Ruby Riot defeated Mandy Rose & Bianca Blair in 10:37.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Oney Lorcan in 8:52.
– DIY defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss in 10:17.
Sabbatelli and Moss cut a promo before the match saying that they’re an elite tag team and Triple H is spending big money for them to be in the NXT tag team division.
– Drew McIntyre defeated Patrick Clark in 8:39.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Sonya Deville in 8:35 to retain her title.
– Tye Dillinger & Hideo Itami defeated NXT Champion Bobby Roode & Andrade “Cien” Almas in 17:22.
The main event was supposed to be Roode defending his title against Dillinger, but he got the mic and said that NXT is his show and he wouldn’t defend it in a dump like Phoenix. He said that he has a partner and Dillinger better have one too. Almas came to the ring as Roode’s partner.
Dillinger responded by saying that he knew Roode would pull something like this. He said that Roode is going to get his ass kicked for talking trash about Phoenix and introduced Itami as his partner.
Riot got the hot tag and won the match for her team.
– Dylan Miley defeated Cezar Bononi
This was pretty much a squash match.
– Killian Dain defeated No Way Jose
SAnitY stayed in the ring and challenged anyone to fight, with DIY answering the challenge.
– DIY defeated Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe
Dain and Nikki Cross were thrown out from ringside. DIY picked up the pinfall victory over Young in what was the match of the night. Dain and Cross came back out to fight after it was over, but No Way Jose and Ruby Riot soon followed to chase them from the ring. There was then a dance party, which included the victors and the ref.
– Tye Dillinger defeated Patrick Clark
I was surprised to see Dillinger still on tour, but he was really over with the crowd. He picked up the win in an entertaining match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Sonya Deville to retain her title
Sonya Deville is Daria Berenato’s new ring name. This was a well-worked match, with Deville getting some time on offense to make it an entertaining title defense for Asuka.
– Hideo Itami & Aleister Black defeated NXT Champion Bobby Roode & Andrade “Cien” Almas
This was a nice match. Itami worked a lot with Roode. He got a hot tag to hit the GTS while Black hit a kick to pick up the victory. Itami and Black played up an uneasiness with each other during the match with some aggressive tags and shoving, but they sat in the ring together after the victory and shook hands.
The Big News: Tyler Bate defeated Jack Gallagher to retain the WWE UK title.
The Medium News: Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot brawled all over creation on multiple occasions.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The new backstage interviewer, Christy St. Cloud, introduced herself, which stunned me to the point that I didn’t realize she never actually asked Ruby Riot a question.
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The show started with Nikki Cross running into the ring during the opening theme song, looking out of control. She left the ring and went to the ring announcer and called out Ruby Riot to “come out and play.”
This brought out Riot, who cautiously got in the ring. The fans chanted “fight” as the two women gave them what they wanted. They went clobbering on each other, with referees finally interfering when Cross threw Riot into the ring steps outside the ring. Riot didn’t stay down and they continued to slug away on each other. Every time they seemed to part, Cross would dive off the ring steps onto Riot.
The fans wanted them to keep fighting as the referees finally succeeded in dragging Cross to the back.
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We were reminded of last week’s angle where Hideo Itami returned and laid out the glorious NXT Champion, Bobby Roode, with a Go to Sleep.
Fast forward to today and Kayla Braxton tried to interview Roode, but she was cut off by the champion. Roode said things have changed and this is his NXT. Itami can challenge him all day long, but if he wants a championship opportunity he is going to have to earn it.
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Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
This match was set up last week when Almas was bullying McIntyre at the WWE Performance Center. Thankfully, Heavy Machinery was filming it because we may not have believed such shenanigans and not had this match because of it.
Almas was all about the shenanigans again, but McIntyre was having none of it. The early highlight was Almas laying in the ropes, as he’s prone to do, but McIntyre gave him a running boot.
McIntyre exploded from there, punching Almas down in the corner and coming off the top rope with an elbow to his standing foe. Almas got in some chops, but McIntyre caught him and dropped him with a powerslam before picking up the win with the running boot.
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Mr. William Regal announced Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross for later on tonight.
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We had part one of a series of video packages, asking the question “Who is Roderick Strong?” He’s been on NXT for over six months and we’re finally getting introductory videos for the guy.
As always when they do these videos, this was very good and worth going out of your way to see:
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Aleister Black defeated Kona Reeves
The former Noah Kekoa and Noah Pontjes was back to square off with the undefeated Aleister Black. Reeves attacked at the bell, and it was pretty much downhill for him from there. Black blocked his attempt at a turnbuckle smash and kicked him in every part of his body before winning with Black Mass.
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A new announcer, Christy St. Cloud, literally introduced herself before interviewing Ruby Riot. That was so shocking I didn’t even notice that she didn’t actually ask Riot a question. Anyway, Riot said that she rebels against the norm, like SAnitY, but the difference is SAnitY wants everyone else to conform.
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Braxton was running out of the arena to try to ask Almas about losing to McIntyre earlier, but Almas (who showered and dressed in 15 minutes) was leaving the arena with a plethora of women.
Being the person he is, he did offer Braxton a chance to be part of his groupies, but Braxton ignored him the same way Almas ignored her question.
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The match between Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot never actually started
Riot was walking to the ring when she was attacked by Cross. They resumed their crazy brawl from earlier, but this time got to do it by the stage. Finally, a bunch of referees ran back out in an effort to throw them in the ring. Well, this is why you don’t use referees as lumberjacks.
Riot dove off the stage onto Cross, which was as much as the officials would allow, as Riot was dragged away and then Cross was literally carried away by four people.
This might be the first time in wrestling history that you need a cage match just to keep the two of them in the ring.
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Mr. Regal talked to Asuka backstage and told her that we will have a battle royal next week to determine her next challenger. Asuka completely blew it off and walked off.
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WWE United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate defeated Jack Gallagher to retain his title
This is Bate’s second official title defense. I know he defended it at Axxess and I know he defended it on non-WWE shows. I am literally just repeating what was said to me on TV.
As expected, these two put on an excellent wrestling exhibition. These two, almost mirror images of each other, reversed each other’s moves and holds and then reversed their reversals. Back from commercial, Gallagher had taken over with an armbar. Bate tried to fight out of it, but Gallagher held onto that armbar for an extended period of time.
Bate was somehow able to turn it into a test of strength that neither could get the advantage of, and they both had to bridge out of a double pin. Bate got a near fall with the hesitation German suplex, but ended up in another armbar when he went for a suplex.
Bate took over and sent Gallagher to the outside, but when he went for a suicide dive, Gallagher met him with a headbutt and then another one inside the ring for a two count. Can people stop using headbutts? Seriously. Anyway, Bate hit his rolling kick and the Tyler Driver ’97 for the win.
We saw several of the UK wrestlers in the front row after the match. The only one not clapping was Pete Dunne. Instead he just stared a hole through Bate’s head.
Before we go, I just want to say that WWE Network needs to work on their buffering issues. This show went off the air at 8:52 and it took me until 9:14 to watch the whole thing with the constant buffering. I never have issues with other streaming services or with anything in WWE’s on-demand section.
Let’s hope they clear things up, but that will do it from here. I want to thank everyone for reading, and until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The former Tommy End will be making his televised NXT debut over WrestleMania weekend.
A few weeks of videos hyped the arrival of Aleister Black before it was announced on Wednesday night’s episode of NXT that he would be debuting against Andrade “Cien” Almas at TakeOver: Orlando.
After signing with WWE, Black wrestled on the Network for the first time under the name Tommy End against Neville on the second night of the UK tournament.
Shinsuke Nakamura challenging Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship will headline TakeOver: Orlando at the Amway Center on April 1st. Roode won the title from Nakamura in the main event of NXT’s Royal Rumble weekend special, with WWE playing up that Nakamura suffered a storyline knee injury during the match.
The current card for NXT TakeOver: Orlando is:
NXT Champion Bobby Roode defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defending against Ember Moon
NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defending against DIY and The Revival in a triple threat elimination match
NXT was in Fort Pierce tonight with an attendance of 350 people.
– Buddy Murphy defeated Dan Matha
Murphy stacked Matha up with a roll-through pin and escaped before Matha could get a hold of him.
– Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss defeated Heavy Machinery
Moss dropped Tucker Knight neck-first on the ropes and held his feet allowing Sabbatelli to steal a pin.
– Adrian Jaoude defeated Kona Reeves
Jaoude got the victory by submission.
– Patrick Clark cut an in-ring promo. He got the “what?” treatment and “boring” chants. He put himself and the “Patrick Clark Experience” over.
– Ruby Riot defeated Daria Berenato
The former Heidi Lovelace won with her enzuigiri version of Eat Defeat.
– No Way Jose, Oney Lorcan & Kassius Ohno defeated SAnitY
The action was all over the place. The faces ran wild with corner splashes, then the heels took control until No Way Jose finally put away Alexander Wolfe with a pop-up wind-up punch.
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defeated Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford to retain their titles
The Authors were out-paced early by Dawkins and Ford, but in the end the challengers were no match for the power of the champions. AOP used their double team lariat finish for the win.
– Ember Moon defeated Mandy Rose
Rose got a lot of heat with a pre-match promo about how all the men want her and all the women want to be her. Moon got a great reaction to shut Rose up. Moon won with a side slam of sorts, not her usual Eclipse finish.
Roode avoided Nakamura early on, even begging for a tag, then circling Nakamura before tagging out and acting proud of himself. The heels worked over Dillinger’s knee most of the match, then Shinsuke finally took the hot tag and ran wild. He hit a Kinshasa on Almas for the win.
NXT was in Cocoa, Florida tonight in front of a packed crowd of 350 people.
– Heavy Machinery defeated The Ealy Twins
This was a hoss match. The teams clobbered each other until Heavy Machinery finally hit their double team finish to win it.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Dan Matha
Matha had his way with Lorcan early on, but Lorcan fought back with a series of running uppercuts and a running neckbreaker for the win.
– Elias Samson defeated Buddy Murphy
Murphy had new music and an energetic babyface attitude. He’s been great on the live events lately, but The Drifter won after hitting a draping DDT.
– Adrian Jaoude cut an in-ring promo about how he came from a family of fighters. He was interrupted by Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss, who were about to rough him up before Tye Dillinger made the save, leading to the next match.
The crowd was all over Sabbatelli and Moss. The match got a lot of time and the finish saw Dillinger take the hot tag and clean house, leading to a Tye Breaker attempt which was countered into a roll through, which Dillinger countered into a sharpshooter attempt before his leg gave way. The crowd was scared, but Dillinger was able to apply the crossface for the submission victory and a huge reaction.
Asuka took the hot tag and ran wild. Lovelace did her version of a step-up enzuigiri to wipe out Rose and allow Asuka to hit a knockout kick of her own to Evans for the pin.
– Aleister Black defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Great match; would like to see this one make TV. Heel Almas is excellent and Black has such intriguing combat mannerisms. It was hard-hitting and different than the usual NXT live event match ups. Black won with a spin kick to the head as Almas charged at him with the running knees.
– SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain & Nikki Cross) defeated Angelo Dawkins, Montez Ford & Liv Morgan
There was total chaos in this match with action all over the place. Dain was a force when in the ring. Cross hit a fisherman neckbreaker for the win before the faces cleaned house after the match to send everyone home happy.
There are now five matches officially set for NXT TakeOver: San Antonio as WWE may have rounded out the card on the episode of NXT TV that aired on the Network tonight.
Two matches were announced for the Royal Rumble weekend show. Roderick Strong will make his TakeOver debut in a match against Andrade “Cien” Almas, while Eric Young will have his first match on one of NXT’s quarterly specials as he takes on Tye Dillinger.
After cutting a promo on tonight’s episode about the disappointment he’s faced in the ring lately, Dillinger refused Young’s invitation to join SAnitY before being laid out by Big Damo to set up the match. Strong defeated Steve Cutler and then said in an interview that he came to NXT to win the title.
NXT TakeOver: San Antonio will take place on January 28th at the Freeman Coliseum before the city’s Alamodome hosts the Royal Rumble the next night. The updated card for the show is:
NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defending against Bobby Roode
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defending against Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, and Nikki Cross in a fatal four-way match
NXT Tag Team Champions DIY defending against The Authors of Pain
Image and results courtesy of @katieloud who estimates 400 in attendance.
– Wesley Blake defeated Adrian Jaoude
Blake won via pinfall.
– Peyton Royce defeated Aliyah
Royce scored the pin with a Perfect Plex.
– SANITY (Sawyer Fulton & Alexander Wolfe) w/ Nikki Cross defeated Heavy Machinery (Tucker Knight & Niko Bogojevic)
Wolfe stole the win after Cross sprayed Bogojevic in the face with something.
– Tye Dillinger defeated Buddy Murphy
Well received comedy match that Dillinger won with the Tye Breaker.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Riddick Moss
Lumbar Check by Alexander for the win. After the match, Alexander was interviewed by Charly Caruso and he thanked WWE and NXT for this opportunity
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka & Daria Berenato defeated Mandy Rose & Billie Kay
In continuity from last month’s show in Jacksonville where they set this match up, it actually happened. Asuka submitted Mandy Rose with the Asuka Lock to pick up the win.
Raftaar locked in a submission hold for the win, he wrenched back on Clark’s arm while keeping him held down.
– Mandy Rose defeated Liv Morgan
This was a good match. Morgan hit an STO for a near fall, but Rose was able to get the win after hitting an angels wings front slam.
– Sawyer Fulton & Alexander Wolfe w/ Nikki Cross defeated Niko Bogojevic & Tucker Knight
Physical mean guy match, Fulton and Wolfe won it with their double team finish which is set up like a Magic Killer into a back slam. Cross attacked the losers and needed to be pulled off of them.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Wesley Blake
These guys worked really hard. They did a lot of physical clotheslines and uppercuts. Blake went for a splash and missed, allowing Lorcan to hit an uppercut and lock in a single leg crab for the win.
– The Authors of Pain defeated Kenneth Crawford & Angelo Dawkins
The powerhouses were just too much for the energetic faces. Authors took their time in this match before hitting their assisted lariat finish for the win.
– Dan Matha cut an in-ring promo. He was passionate about how he doesn’t understand the cruiserweights getting all this attention when they look like the people in the crowd. He called himself a “God damn fire breathing dragon” and issued an open challenge that wasn’t accepted. He was booed angrily as he left.
– Billie Kay defeated Aliyah
Kay has used a torture rack to wear her opponents down lately. Aliyah had a few good hope spots but was put down with a big boot.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Great action in this match. Almas worked as a heel and these two were incredibly athletic. They did some speed work before a stand off. Almas hit a splash to the outside. Alexander was able to avoid the knees in the corner, hit a flying elbow, and then nailed a lumbar check for the win.
